As a distinctive element of this day, the National Civil Police (PNC) and Armed Forces applying Phase V (Fence) of Territorial Control Plan (PCT) in Tutunichapa Municipality occupied 10 boxes of 9mm caliber ammunition (500 bullets) in one of criminal abandoned house.
Likewise, at another vacant home, portions of drugs, including crack and marijuana, and a scale used in their sale were seized, according to a Presidential House report.
Meanwhile, data provided by the PNC indicates that the siege that began in Soyapango township in early December has already resulted in more than 700 arrests.
Breaking news of the confrontation with the gangs, Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro stressed that the war has reduced killings and other serious crimes that have plagued Salvadorans for many years, although some activists and relatives of detainees blame the government , violating people’s rights.
The senior official announced that the Security Cabinet would request the extension of the state of emergency for the ninth time, following its most recent approval in mid-December.
This measure, “although it causes some discomfort, represents the presence of the state in communities that feel protected,” he stressed.
Regarding the effectiveness of the PCT’s V phase in Soyapango, a municipality known as the “industrial city of the country” and with a population of nearly a quarter of a million, the minister stressed that when the siege ends, the gangs will not return to take control because “a police and military model will be established to prevent such actions”.
He also announced that the construction of the Confinement Center against Terrorism, which is being built in San Vicente, is in the final stages and will be inaugurated by President Bukele in the coming days, is progressing to put 40,000 people behind bars.
Villatoro also stressed that El Salvador had risen from a homicide rate of 18.1 per 100,000 people in 2021 to 7.8 in 2022 and that of the 494 homicides last year, 65 percent occurred before the state of emergency was declared.
Referring to the gangs, President Bukele today denied that the media had published false reports about the wrongful arrest of one person, an alleged teacher and painter.
The reality is that the “painter and professor” is a known gang member of MS13, with a history of robbery and murder and with a modified tattoo of the aforementioned gang, the president pointed out.
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